Michelle Commiskey
Mar. 26, 2009
3:40pm
Somali pirates have struck again! Pirates armed with machine guns captured a Norwegian chemical tanker less than 24 hours after capturing a smaller Greek tanker. Both ships were attacked outside of the Gulf of Aden, which has now become one of the world’s most treacherous sea lanes.
The Norwegian Bow Asir was attacked 250 miles from the coast while the smaller Greek Nipayia was 450 miles off the coast.
At 0729GMT, the owner of the Bow Asir received a security alert saying two small boats were chasing the ship with suspected pirates on board. 25 minutes later he received an alert that the pirates had boarded the ship. Three hours afterwards, the ships owner received a confirmation that 18 machine gun clad pirates and taken control of the Bow Asir. There have been no reports of injuries to the crew.
Oh…those pirates. The waters around Somalia seem be increasing with danger. In 2008, there were 111 attacks and 42 ships were captured (most of these occurring in the Gulf of Aden area). Since the New Year, 7 ships have been seized so far with 10 times as many attacks in January and February than in those months last year. Since the beginning of March, attacks are happening almost daily. During one incident, a sailor received a bullet to the head.
If this trend continues, more and more cargo ships will be lost to these pirates. This can very harshly affect economies the world over. One big “duh” to the reason for these increasing attacks could be that Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090326/ap_on_re_af/piracy;_ylt=AvU6n8rXch8BlykDhPvteQZvaA8F
1 comment:
Pirates seem like such a thing of the past; it's so bazaar to hear about all of these recent piracy attacks...What happens when the seas are no longer safe for passage? The ocean is so vast, too, that it seems impossible to really monitor and prevent this kind of occurrence. I just hope it doesn't become the new trend...
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